Visit to Burns…

When it got a bit hot there in Pahrump…in the high 80’s F every day, AND when it seemed that everyone in town was slacking off about wearing masks as still deemed necessary by the CDC during a pandemic, I felt it was time to head north. I did want to explore a new to me RV park along the way so planned my trip to allow that. Google showed me that most all the RV parks along the route would be open. Nevada and Oregon considered them essential services I guess. And here I was in my spot at Preferred RV in Pahrump the day I left, weather was gorgeous. Was to be a leisurely four or five hour drive as I was heading to a Battle Mountain RV park an hour south of Winnemucca, so no need to rush. There’s a RV park there I wanted to visit and check out. But I’d get there early enough so if I didn’t like the place, there were several RV parks in Winnemucca I could head for.

Here’s a map of my planned route this season: Pahrump to Hines, OR.

I initially planned on stopping in Beatty at the Nut store there in town to buy nuts along with filling up with diesel but a couple days before I left, found bags of deluxe mixed nuts and bags of cashews, 1 lb bags, on sale at Smith’s for $6.99 ea. Whoa! I usually pay $15/lb up in Beatty but at their low price I bought $55 worth at Smith’s instead. Mamma didn’t raise no fool. That would eliminate one shopping excursion where I might be exposed plus I was saving mucho denero at the same time. So I’d only need to stop at the diesel station there at the Nut factory. But my last experience late last year there was bad…not enough maneuvering room and what there was was too tight and almost caused me to have to unhook the car. This time checked prices with Gas Buddy first and discovered the best price in town was the Arco station on the main drag not at the nut place. Oh, yeah, after seeing that, I remembered that it always had the best prices on diesel in town (I’ve stayed for a month or two in Beatty in years past).  It also had the best access and departure route for large vehicles getting diesel. Here’s a link to a picture of the Arco station. Their diesel pumps are on the right side of the station, not under the main canopy shown in this picture so be sure to head around to the side if you visit: Diesel Pumps at Arco, Beatty…

If you’re coming from the south like I was planning, it’s best just before Main Street to turn right onto Watson St. than take the 1st left onto S. 1st Street. Makes it easy to just pull right up to the diesel pumps. Lots of room either way you approach the station with the diesel pumps over on the side of the station. Two lanes with pumps with enough room for large vehicles, but no canopy if it’s raining. Than after finishing with the filling up, I made a sharp right onto Main and I’m back on my way north. Only took a few minutes to refuel. I did kind of regret not stopping at the Nut house for some ice cream. I will do that my next visit to town.

Anyway, my destination was Battle Mountain, NV for the first nights stop. No one knows for sure how it got that name as there was never a battle near there, historian’s can’t find one anyway. Lots of desert in this area and along the route, most of the trip it looks like this.

This giant red mountain is a mine of some sort. Probably iron ore considering the rusty red color. This valley is really cool looking.

This is Big Dune. A very popular place for dune buggies.

This route takes travelers through Goldfield, and interesting gold town trying to become historical. I’ve stayed a week here before at a nice RV park at the north edge of town.

Look at how lonely this road is after passing Goldfield. And because of the pandemic, I saw very few vehicles. Went at least an hour without seeing a single car/truck/RV. It was spooky.

As I drove along, I’d check the outside temp on occasion and after Beatty it kept getting lower and lower…yea, that’s what I was traveling for, to get away from the heat down south. Oh, and the GPS elevation feature showed that I was gaining elevation too.

I considered backtracking and staying at that little town off in the distance but decided not to this trip. Aww, the freedom of the open road. I’ve driven through the one RV park in that town that’s right alongside the highway…wasn’t impressed. This trip I did spot a sign for a ‘newer’ RV park or maybe I’ve just missed the sign on my other trips through town. Maybe the newer one is better so I resolved to stop by on my way south later this year.

Meanwhile, getting closer to Battle mountain.

What’s this? Snow?

Note the top of an RV off in the distance in the next picture? You see that quite often along these lonely roads. Sometimes way back off the highway along a dirt road, nestled in a copse of trees suggesting a source of water nearby. Then you see this parking situation often too. I imagine it’s the same back east but there from the highway the trees block your view of the distance usually so people don’t notice all of them. I’ve seen some really interesting parking spots taken over by RVs where it looks like they’re just squatters and have dug in for a long stay. You never know though, and many of them have a barely adequate dirt driveway with ‘no trespassing’ signs up. This one was parked in the middle of nowhere 50-60 miles from the nearest services so if they wanted to be alone, out here they likely have that except for the occasional roar of a car, bus, or truck on the nearby highway.

I forget why I took this picture. Looks like a flying saucer landed there though.

Just down the road from where I took this next picture is a sharp right turn that I almost missed AGAIN! Every time I get here, heading either direction, I almost miss that turn. And I have to slam on the brakes. Don’t care for that. One of these days, I’m just going to plan on heading straight out into that huge valley as the fates seem to be beckoning me that direction. The corner I almost missed is the junction of US-50/NV-305. NV-305 heads due north to Battle Mtn from here. If I’d continue due west on US-50, I’d be on the Lincoln Highway which will eventually take you to Fallon, Fernley, and then Reno. I have stayed in Fallon, moved to Reno, all while I worked at the Amazon center in Fernley a few years back. And here I am settled in at the Clark Park RV park in Battle Mtn. Its office was closed and I had to use the late arrival kiosk to check in for the night due to Covid. A bit expensive, but they had excellent gravel covered flat and long pull through spaces, 50 amp, high speed Wifi, and good water. In a few years there will be excellent shade too. I didn’t use the sewer but I’m sure it’s fine. Since I was only staying the night, I didn’t even bother to unhook the car. Big place. Lots of empty transient spaces though the long term section had a bunch of people staying there.

Next morning I just headed over to the Maverik station nearby for a great diesel price. Just $2.04/gallon. After leaving there, I screwed up and ended up on the other side of the freeway dammit. Missed the freeway entrance north bound. Got turned around soon enough and was back on the road, I-80 west, and soon I was passing through Winnemucca, which is an hour north-west of Battle Mtn. As I passed through the town, spotted an RV park I’ve wanted to stay at for years and keep forgetting…the Model T Casino. It’s only $15/night there and gives you a chance to visit downtown. Even though the casino had a street sign saying it was closed, the RV park was open. Dammit, missed the chance to stay there again. Drove right by it on my way through town too so I could have easily stopped there the day before. I had to drive right through downtown and right by the park in order to access US95 north as I’m heading to Hines, Oregon.

There’s a small RV park there in Hines I like to stay at. It’s near Burns and I still have a PO Box there in Burns that I’m still paying for. Burns was going to be my anchor town because of the nice Veterans VA clinic there. But it was not to be…Pahrump just turned out to be a better choice and I’m now a member of the VA clinic in Pahrump instead. Plus Pahrump is only 65 minutes from the VA hospital in Las Vegas whereas in Burns, it’s a 2 hour trip to Boise. And driving to Las Vegas on a whim is much more appealing then heading to Boise. Makes a difference when you get on in years like I have. It’s time to empty the PO box and close it down though so that’s my goal when I’m there in town. Not sure how long I’ll stay, at least a week. Taking advantage of the weather which was really nice according to the forecasts.

Anyway, next time we pick up with the visit to Hines, and then later visit John Day…one of my favorite stops on this travel route.

Thanks for reading!